Circuit-controlling switch.



' W. S. UNGLESBY CIRQUIT CONTROLLING SWITCH. APPLICATION FILED JULY 13. 19:5;

1 1 96,826. Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I A I 2/1 g' 2625 w. s. UNGLESBY. ClRCUIT CONTROLLING SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 13- 1915.

Patnted Sept. 5,1916.

2 sniirs snsn 2 3mm 1'15. Unjlesy WILLIAM S. UNGLESBY, 0F VQLUSIA FLORIDA.

CIRCUIT-CONTROLLING- SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

Application filed July 18, 1915. Serial No. 39,600.

'To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. UN- GLESBY, a citizen of the United States, residin at Volusi-a, in the county of Volusia and tate of Florida, have invented certain new and useful 'Improvements in Circuit- 1 Controlling Switches, of which the followin Isa specification.

y Invention relates to new and useful Improvements in switches and more particularly in switches for controlling signaling circuits for motor vehicles, the primary object of my invention being the provision of a switch including a swingingly mounted resilient hand lever adapted in various positions to close certain circuits and In the provision of means whereby the hand lever will be automatically locked against undesired movement when brought to such positions. D A still further object of my invention 7 consists in so arranging the switch that the circuit is not formed through the hand lever itself but through ontacts which are forced into engagement with each other through engagement by the hand lever.

' With these and other objects in View, my invention will be more fully described, illus trated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form a part of this application.

In the drawings: tary side elevation of a conventional form of motor car, showing my invention applied thereto, a portion of the hood of the car being broken away to disclose the location of the operating mechanism; Fig. 2 is a similar view, the wiring being shown diagrammatically; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the operating mechanism, the parts being shown in unassembled position; Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view .taken through the lever segment and one of the pairs of switch contacts carried by it; Fig. 5 is :1 dia grammatic view illustrating the various parts of the hand operated control lever for actuating the indicator. 1

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

In order to insure a clear understanding of my invention and its method of use I have illustrated it in connection with a conventional form of motor vehicle 10 having a Figure 1 is a fragmen dash 11 and radiator 12, the radiator being braced by a tie rod 13 extending longitudinally of the vehicle between the radiator and dash and directly over the engine. In Fig. 1 the hood 14 of the vehicle is shown broken away in order to disclose this tie rod 13. l a

My invention includes .a U ehap ed supporting bracket 15 secured by its ends to the tie rod 13 and carrying between its ends a plate 16 provided with spaced vertically disposed bearings 17 and 18 adapted to receive shafts 19 and 20. Mounted upon the upper end of the shaft 19, which is located in advance of the shaft 20, is a casing 21 having either transparent or translucent side walls 22 upon which are painted or otherwise inscribed some direction indicating device such as hands 23 or arrows.

Mounted within this casing is an electric light bulb: 24 which, when the current is turned on, illuminates the side walls to thus attract attention to the indicator.

As shown in Fig. 1, the shaft 19 extends through the hood of the car, while the shaft 20 terminates beneath it, said latter shaft being provided at its upper end with a spur gear 25 which meshes with a pinion 26 carried by the shaft 19. A collar 27 is socured in any suitable manner, as by a set screw 28 upon the lower end of the shaft 20 and is provided with a laterally directed arm 29 by which the shaft 20 may be rotated to rotate the shaft 19 and so swing the illumined casing, which may very the shaft 19 through an angle of 90 degrees.

In order to provide convenient means for operating, the above described signal, I provide a sector, indicated as a wholeby the numeral 30, this sector being clamped in any suitable manner upon the'stcering column 31 of the vehicle. swingingly carried by this sector and possesses. sufiicient resiliency to automatically spring into whichever one of the notches 33-, 3 1 or 35 it is swung into alinement with. As shown, the lever is pivoted at apoint between its ends and its lower end is operatively connected to the arm 29 of the collar 27 bya connecting rod 36 in such a manner that swinging of the hand lever A hand lever 32 is will cause rotation of the sign. The

' notches 33, 3a and 35 are so spaced that movement of the hand lever from any one of these notches to an adjacent notch will cause the sign to turnthrough an angle of 90 degrees.

In installing the signaling device, the collar 27 is so mounted upon the shaft that the hand lever will seat in the middle notch 33 when the sign is pointing stra ght ahead. It will therefore be seen that swinging of the hand lever to seat in the notch 34:

will cause the sign to swing to the left,-

while swinging of the hand. lever to seat in the notch 35 will turn the sign to the right. The engagement of the hand lever in the notches of its segment serves to efiectually lock the sign against movement when once set.

The segment is provided adjacent the notch 3a and the notch 35 with fixed contact studs 37, properly insulated from the 51 segment and with resilient spring contacts 38 also insulated from the segment and so mounted that in normal position their free ends are spaced from the fixed contacts 37 These spring contacts are preferably provided on their outer faces with a covering ofinsulating material 39 to prevent leakage 14. leads from one of the lamp socket con tacts directly to one pole of a battery 43, while a wire 12 leads from the other contact of the lamp socket-to one of the contacts 38, a wire d5 leading-from one of the contacts 37 to the other pole of the battery. If desired, a hand switch 46 may be interposed in any one of the above wires at any convenient point to permit permanent opening of the circuit, irrespective of the position of the hand lever, such a switch. being shown in connection with the wire 42, the switch being mounted upon the dash of the vehicle.

When driving the car in the daytime, this switch 46 is usually opened so that the direction indicator may be employed Without waste of current as the light is, of course, unnecessary at such a time. When driving at night, the switch 16 is closed and the indicator employed in the usual manner, by swinging of the hand lever 32. It will of course be clear that movement of the hand lever into engagement with either of the contacts 38, at once closes a circuit from the battery through the light and therefore that,

Whenever the sign is swung to point to the right or to the left, the lightwill be lighted.

It will further be clear that this circuit will be broken as soon as the hand lever is swung back to neutral position and that there-is no waste of current, the light beingionlyv lighted, when the signal is actually being employed to denote an intended change in the direction of the car.

The casing 21, which is preferably wedgeshaped, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, has its narrow. end presented to the front of the machine when in normal position and may be located at the very front portion of the hood or at any other suitable part of the vehicle. If deemed advisable, the supporting bracket 15 and bearing 16 may be cast or otherwise formed in a single piece instead of being so arably formed and secured. to-

gether, as s iown. The light mounted in the casing 21 is preferably detachably secured therein in order that it may be readily removed for purposes of renewal. It will of course be understood that the indicator or sign proper may be mounted upon any suitablepart of the car and that. the hand lever, instead of being mounted upon the steering post, may be mounted H upon the dash or at the side of the drivers seat. It will further be understood that, although I have illustrated the use of a battery as a source of current for the lamp, the current maybe obtained from the ordinary electric lighting circuit of the vehicle or from any suitable vehicle driven generator such as the magneto or a small dynamo. in

fact varipus minor changes, within the scope of the appended claims, may be made, at any time, without in the slightest degree departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described the invention,what is claimed as new is:

1. A device of the character described including a segmental shaped body having a laterally directed peripheral flange provided with spaced notches, a resilient lever pivoted to thefcentral portion of the body and movable over the flange to spring into the notches, contacts carried by the seg ment adjacent certain notches, said contacts being insulated from each other and from the segment but movable into electrical en-z gagement one with the other when engaged by the lever, and insulating material carried by' the exposed faces of the outer contacts to be engaged by the lever and so insulate the contacts therefrom.

2. A device of the character described in cluding a segmental shaped body having a laterally directed peripheral flange provided. with spaced square shouldered notches of less depth than the depth of the flange, a resilient lever pivoted adjacent one end. flatly against thgcentralportion of the body with its other end held in outsprung position by 'ico the flange whereby the lever will automatiwhereby when e. cally spring into any notch over which it is swung and still be held in slightly spaced relation to the outer portion of the body 5 by the uncutaway portion of the flange beneath the notch, pairs of contacts carried by by any swiz'igi the body, each pair of contacts being diswhile in eng posed in radial alinenient With respect to prevented one of the notches and the contacts of each In 'l'estiim 10 pair being norn'lally spaoed from each other 1 villi 

